A Witness in Disguise (Sarah Woods Mystery Book 10) by Jennifer L. Jennings Page A

your own abduction?”
    “ I didn’t stage my own abduction.  Not exactly.”
    I had no idea what to say .  My brain could barely comprehend that this woman sitting in front of me, was the same adorable blonde haired girl in the photo I’d been carrying around with me for the past three days.  The transformation was remarkable.  “In the note, you said you’d explain everything, so here we are.”
    Meagan folded her hands on the table and cleared her throat .  “First of all, I should thank Mark for hiring you guys, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have figured out why Cliff Collins tried to kill me.”
    My chest tightened .  “Cliff Collins? Are you sure?”
    “Yes, I’ m sure.  Don’t you believe me?”
    “Why go to all the trouble to change your identity?” I asked .  “Why didn’t you just go to the police?”
    “ Because it was just a stupid fender bender.  His car barely got a scratch.”
    “Wait,” I said .  “Back up a little.  Did the fender bender take place before or after you had the consultation with him?”
    Meagan furrowed her brows .  “What consultation? The first time I ever met Cliff was after the accident.”
    “So you never went to h is office and asked about getting a restraining order against someone?”
    “No,” Meagan said, clearly confused.  “Is that what he told you?”
    “ Yes.  He also told us that you two had coffee together.  You invited him back to your house to watch a movie.”
    Meagan closed her eyes and shook her head .  “He’s a really good liar but what else would you expect from a lawyer.” When she opened her eyes again, there was fear behind them.  “I’m not surprised the cops believed him, which is exactly why I couldn’t trust them to help me.”
    “Start from the beginning,” I said .  “Tell us exactly what happened on that night.”
    “I was heading home from work around 5:00 .  I stopped at the grocery store, ran a few errands and started heading home around 6:45.  I’ll admit, I wasn’t paying attention to the road because my cell phone had fallen off my lap and I was trying to reach for it.  I wasn’t going very fast to begin with but it was too fast for the traffic stopped at the red light.  I rear ended his car but, like I said, it wasn’t a big deal.  We both pulled off to the side of the road and got out to assess the damage.  His car had just a few scrapes and a minor dent, probably a few hundred bucks at the most.  Cliff was actually really cool about it.  He was very polite but he seemed like he was in a hurry.  He said it wasn’t worth contacting our insurance companies.  I felt badly as the accident was my fault.  I didn’t think it was fair that he should have to pay for the damages that I caused.  He assured me that it was not a problem but I insisted on giving him my insurance information.  That’s when I noticed there was someone lying down in the back seat of his car.  He looked like he was sleeping.  I even made a comment to Cliff, surprised his friend hadn’t woken up after the accident.  Cliff started acting all weird and told me his friend wasn’t feeling well.  It never crossed my mind that the guy might be dead and then you showed me that picture of Graham Taylor.”
    “Are you positive that it was Graham?” I asked.
    “Ninety percent sure.  ”
    “Okay,” I said .  “What happened next?”
    “He got back into his car and drove off .  I went straight home.  An hour later, I was getting ready to watch a movie in bed when I looked up and saw Cliff standing in my doorway.  I hadn’t even heard him come in the house.  I froze because I had no idea why he was there. The next thing I know he’s lunging toward me.  He grabbed my head and threw me back onto the bed.  I thought for sure he was going to rape me; I figured that’s why he was there.  Instead of ripping off my nightgown, however, he grabbed a pillow and tried to suffocate me.  At first I tried to fight him